Nine U.S.-listed companies have used the SEC’s new innovation exemption to block tokenized versions of their shares from trading on OKXICE, the sharpest sign yet that the corporate fight over stock tokens has moved from social media outrage to formal objections.
The backlash started with AMC. CEO Adam Aron called the AMC-linked tokens Robinhood created “contemptible, outrageous, disgusting, detestable, inexcusable, vile” in a Sept. 3 post on X, saying the theater chain had no connection to them. AMC followed up with a cease-and-desist, which Robinhood refused. The exchange’s SVP Johann Kerbrat dismissed AMC’s criticism as “mostly a marketing stunt” in an interview earlier this month. Robinhood lists more than 190 stock tokens.
The new venue objections carry more weight. OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange, said in a public notice dated Oct. 16 that timely objections from Cerebras Systems, AppLovin, Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave, Verizon, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom and UnitedHealth Group bar the venue from offering tokens of their shares. The notice gives no reasons for the objections. Only Applied Optoelectronics has explained itself, telling the Wall Street Journal it was unsure how tokenization would affect its stock price, liquidity and volatility.
Under the SEC’s Sept. 17 order, a venue must notify a company at least 30 calendar days before trading third-party tokenized stock, and a timely objection blocks that venue, though silence lets a listing proceed. The mechanism is what changed: companies that could only rant or lawyer up in September now have a one-page regulatory lever, and nine of them pulled it.
The consent gap behind the fight is large. Of roughly $3.5 billion in tokenized stock outstanding as of Oct. 15, up from about $680 million at the start of 2026, the bulk had been issued without company permission, about $2.43 billion as of Sept. 13. Nasdaq, a vocal tokenization advocate, said in a FAQ on its website that it will opt out of having its own shares tokenized, citing venues that lack real-time best-price display and consolidated tape reporting.
OKXICE still plans to launch with dozens of other names, including Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft, and has not set a launch date.
